The Stark's South'
by Cyberbook
Summary: After the Long Night, Brandon the Builder stayed in the North, but what if, in a mood-swing that would forever be remembered, he decided that, truly, the neighbor had greened grass and moved South, and why not give a deserved payment to the Reach in the process? - In Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

Synopsis: After the Long Night, Brandon the Builder stayed in the North, but what if, in a mood-swing that would forever be remembered, he decided that, truly, the neighbor had greened grass and moved South, and why not give a deserved payment to the Reach in the process? - This is the story of what happened after that, an ASOIAF AU were the North is in the Reach, and maybe vice-versa

Rating: M because I can't say if I wrote something more mature and gory or softer

Fandoms: A Song of Ice and Fire, I can write some character of the series but can't say is a crossover

Pairings: Not tough, but I'm a big fan of Jon/Daenerys, Arya/Edric Dayne/Gendry, Robb/Harem (he deserves it, the boy suffered enough already), Shireen/Edric Storm, Bran/Jojen and Rickon/Lyanna Mormont

...

 **Disclaimer: ASOIAF is not mine, period. Initial idea also can be considered it, look in Author's Note**

 **Author's Note:** I started writing this story inspired by AsherStark's inital idea posted in the Miscellaneous ASOIAF Thread VIII in , but if he want's to take a different pat, is his story, and who am I to judge? (also, if Ineeded to ask his permition first, please say something, I would fell a shit for it, and probably will suffer some punishment or something like that, I'm kinda new in publishing on ) This story in particullar will by many time shamelles Stark-Wank, and will probably need two to five chapters to reach closer to the books time (probably five, is to fun to write this).

If you see some error that I did, tell me.

Besides that, please, enjoy.

 **EDIT (2/13/2019): Due to don't thinking, I decided to read my already written chapters and ended up seeing a bunch of places where I tough there would be better ways to write (or more than it, writing errors, my most hated foe), so I made some mild edits**

* * *

After the Long Night ended, and the Wall was built, Brandon the Builder, the forefather of House Stark and the first and sole King of Winter, wasn't so happy with the southern lords of the First Men for not helping him or the North in saving all of them from the Others, so, in a move of daring and levels never heard again, he made an agreement with the Children of the Forest and the Giant, and traveled across the Neck and the Riverlands, invading the Reach and being followed by most of the northern lords and petty kings of the North, who allied themselves with him.

It was him who leaded an army of men, hardened and strong warriors, giants, whit their claves and size, and children of the forest, with their greenseers and magic, to the green lands of the Reach, intending to conquer the land to them, and being legitimized by his descent of Garth Greenhand by his son, Brandon of the Bloody Blade.

Some did not follow him, with the Marsh Magnars of House Reed deciding for staying on their homes and crannogs on the marshlands and swamps of the Neck, already green and livable enough to them, while the Skagosi simply denied accompanying Brandon for the simple reason of connection to their land, even with all its harshness, and others decided to stop in the middle of the journey, with the Raven Kings of House Blackwood simply stopping on the north of the Riverlands and deciding for settle their people and vassals on the region north of the Red Fork of the Trident and directly to the west of the domains of House Bracken, with the main part of their new realm being named after them as the Blackwood Vale.

The lords and kings of the Reach were taken by surprise and didn't even had time to put a real fight, and, by the time the King Garren II Gardener united them in a war against their invaders, Brandon and his men and allies already had set foot on controlling more than a half of the region, with many lords big and small fleeing to the sea with their people while some others decided to bent the knee and accept their new overlords, some of those who choose to stay were the Tarly of Horn Hill, the Beesbury of Honeyholt, the Costayne of Three Towers, the Merryweather of Longtable, the Fossoway of Cider Hall, the Ashford of Ashford and the Crane of Red Lake.

In the end, seeing how they couldn't put a fight in their own homeland, the Reachmen tried to give back by attacking the North directly, only to find the region almost entirely unpopulated, since Brandon and his allies, in another daring and insane move, used the magic of the Children of the Forest to move their own people of the North to the Reach with them, planning to colonize it now that many of its inhabitants had flew with their lords.

Upon the revelation that their foes lands were now almost completely devoid of people, the Gardener Kings and their colleagues in the new status of exiled royalty, decided to simply colonize the now mostly unpopulated land, settling their people in the now abandoned castles and cities while killing or absorbing the remaining locals, while in the Reach, similar things happened, with the remaining locals being killed or absorbed by the northerners, who started to settle in their new lands.

After years of moving and many changes, the Reach was finally settled by their new inhabitants, with the major kingdom being the realm of the Starks, who established their new seat in the smothering ruins of Highgarden (not that the Gardeners didn't did the same with their new seat, located were old Winterfell was) and crowned themselves Kings of Spring (a title who, with time, would be changed to Kings in the Reach, and after that Kings in the South), while their allies broke off and restored their old petty realms, the Bolton with their new home in Dreadoak, were Old Oak was located, the Dustin in their new city were Goldengrove once was, the Umber with their fortress of Bright Heart were Brightwater Keep stood, and the Rayders (the now extinct forefathers of House Ryswell) founding a personal domain within the northern parts of the Mander, naming it Breakstone Hill.

Other houses who also became important in this new Reach were House Woodfoot, who became the Kings of the Misty Islands (until they would be put to sword when the Ironborn conquered the isles five hundred years later), House Flint, who became one of the many petty kings of the Red Mountains, and House Hornwood of the Hornwood, who, while not styled themselves as kings, ruled over a good part of the northwestern coast of the Reach, even if they answered House Stark as their liege lords.

All of them were powerful, but also all of them knew that, independent of all wealth or power they gained, the Starks would always be the main and most powerful, because all the houses that now lived in the Reach owed to them the fact that now they lived and ruled over the most fertile lands in all Westeros, and even the most brutal kings would never go full frontal against the wolves of Winterfell.

And during the centuries that followed, the Starks only expanded their power over the Reach, slowly but surely annexing by the ways of war, diplomacy or marriages all the petty kings and lords that made the Reach, making them vassals of the Weirwood Throne on Winterfell and part of an realm that, by the time when the first Andals landed on the shores of the Fingers, could boldly and proudly declare itself as being the biggest in all of Westeros.

While that happened, the Gardener Kings on the North, who styled themselves as "the Kings of the Cold and of all the North", became almost extinct from time to time, fighting hard to maintain their realm, threatened bot by being on the center of the region and for the bitter resentment that many houses, who in times prior revered and respected them, held for them due to their ineptitude to defend their homeland on the Reach, creating hundreds of great and petty kingdoms and fiefdoms that broke all ties to the Oakenseat and didn't even wanted to remember their kinship by Garth Greenhand.

Of all those houses and dynasties, no other made bigger threats to their rule than three, the Hightowers, who lost their old domains and founded a new city, called of "Newtown" in an unoriginal manner, made of seastone at the mouth of the White Knife, controlling most of the trade inland and from time to time raiding Gardener lands; the Rowans, who became the rulers of a new kingdom on the large plains north of Blazewater Bay, made hilly by the many barrows dotting them, and who from time to time leaded raidings to the lands north of them on hordes of horsemen; and the Florents, who settled on the lands where in the past House Bolton ruled and became the bitterest of all enemies of House Gardener, creating an feud between the two lineages to last for eternity.

But besides the many enmities created between those new "Northmen", there was also the matters of those who already lived within the region and had decided to simply stay instead of participation of Brandon's migration south, as just like between the enemies of House Gardener, three powers still existed there, the Crannogmen, leaded by the Marsh Magnars of House Reed, who not only stayed on their swampy lands but fought both against the Rowans and the Ironborn, managing to take some of the large plains north of Moat Cailin from the Golden Kings and, more than that, becoming the overlords of Cape Kraken, even if at the cost of much fighting; the Skagosi, who even while fighting between themselves on their snowy and rocky mountains, still had time to attack and raid the coasts of the Shivering Sea, in a manner only slightly less cruel than the Ironborn on the other side of the continent; and, even more surprisingly, the Night's Watch, since with the constant pressure made by the Gardeners and other kings to control them, decided to simply defend both its north and southern borders, fending against Wildlings on the Wall and warring against the southern kings at the same time more than once to the point that its members were freed from their oaths of chastity by the Thirteenth Lord Commander, who himself married an albino woodswitch.

They would spill blood and fight hard to unite the North under their banners, but the Gardeners would never be capable of making the Marsh Magnars, the Skagosi or the Watch bent the knee to their will, even if they became known as the Kings of the North.

* * *

When the Andals came to Westeros, from two thousand to four thousand years after Brandon's Conquest, conquering the Vale and bringing its many petty kings to their knees, who became lords under the banner of House Arryn, they did not knew were to invade after, not because there was no option, but because there were many.

The Riverlands were in their doorsteps, and divided in many petty kings of their own, but many of them were also strong or allied themselves and could make a threat. The North, also, was close and easy to invade by sea, but the Gardener ruling over it, a Gwayne IV, was a strong man, who ruled in the Oakenseat still enjoying the doings of his great-great-grandfather, Garth VII. And just like the Riverlands, the Reach was close enough, even if its young king, Theon Stark, had inherited his throne from his father, Karlon II Stark, after purging the other thirty-seven children that he had with his many mistresses (having never married). The Stormlands were considered, as were the Westerlands and the Iron Islands, but the two later were in the other side of the continent and the first was ruled by a series of strong-willed kings, at the time represented by Qarlton II Durrandon and his son, Qarlton III Durrandon.

In the end, their choice was made to them.

House Gardener and its king, in a unexpected and wild act, renounced the Old Gods and, while they did not burn their godswoods, as the fear of what could happen was still one on their hearts, converted to the Seven, proving it by attacking the Neck and Skagos at the same time, only to the first force, leaded by Gwayne IV himself, be defeated by Jojen III Reed, who killed the king and annexed the plains north of the marshes to his realm, while the se-cond, a smaller host headed by his youngest and most loved son, was captured by the High Queen of Skagos, Marna I Crowl, the Ironcunt, who united her homeland against all odds and took the prince, who was only fifteen and trying to make a name for himself, to be her consort, breaking his mind and will so he wouldn't fight, and, in the end, would love her.

Because of that move, the Andals made their choice, and while they would later invade the Riverlands years later, in a series of wars so bloody that many Houses continued following the Old Gods out of spite while others continued due to exist due to timing, they first tried their luck against the Stark Kings of the Reach, at the time ruled by the young, but already bathed in blood, Theon Stark, named the "Hungry Wolf" of "Bloody Wolf" by his enemies and "Snowhand" or "the Great" by his vassals and allies.

Argos Sevenstar named by his men and allies "Seven Incarnated", invaded the Reach in the third moon of the eight year of Theon's reign, crossing its borders in the same day he married to the sole daughter of Rogar the Huntsman of House Bolton, the last Red King to rule and the one who bent the knee and united his realm with the one of House Stark after the event. He had crossed the north of the domains of House Durrandon in the process, and already had fought some battles against the Storm King Qarlton III Durrandon, who had become a ruler after his father's death.

The Andals' forces marched across the northeastern parts of the Reach, killing thousands in their way and ending the Rayder lineage before meeting Theon's forces at the banks of a small tributary of the Upper Mander, five miles north of where is Stonebridge, to their fated battle, an event that, even without the exact numbers or records, we can still record were marked by two of Argos' men to each of Theon's.

The battle itself, for all the built and the waiting, as relativelly fast, not lasting more than a quarter of a day in what could be considered the single bloodiest moment in the history of Westeros until then, with thousands being killed and killing in an bloodshed marked by brutality and ferocity never heard, with men becoming monsters as they forever stained the lands and the water around with the blood, giving the area the name of Red Fields after it while the river nearby was called the "Stain"

Ironically, Argos himself, even after leading his forces into a miserable and brutal defeat, survived the battle with almost no great injury besides the lost of his right hand, chopped of by Theon himself as he was taken prisoner with all of his seven sons to the Reachmen's camps, where they would stay for almost a week before the victorious king declared that they would accompany him down the river to Winterfell.

The entourage stopped seven times on the journey down the Mander, and each time they set foot on the banks of the river, Theon would take one of the sons of Argos, starting from the youngest one, an squire of twelve, and would impale them until only the warlord himself remained, broken after seeing the bleeding corpse of his oldest, an knight of twenty-seven.

"One for each of your gods", Theon said to him, and when his forces reached Winterfell, he hanged Argos by his own entrails over the highest branch of the Heart Tree, leaving him to suffer for seven days and seven nights before his death.

After that, Argos' body was dried and nailed in the Great Hall of Winterfell, watching while Theon ruled the realm he tried and failed to conquer.

There would be other Andal lords who tried to invade and conquer the Reach during Theon's reign, but none succeeded, and all stopped after, when an Andal killed his only son, Brandon, in battle, Theon executed a bloody revenge against them, uniting a fleet and putting his father-in-law to rule for him while he sailed to Andalos, with the corpse of Argos lashed to the prow of his flagship.

It is said the Scourging of Andalos turned the hills in a new sun, that burnt for eight days before ending, and letting only black wastelands while a hundred thousand were taken as thralls to Westeros, being put to work to dead while their wives were forced to work as nurses and handmaids and their children were turned into sex slaves. The ones who survived after a decade, having had their wills and Faith broken, were finally accepted on the Reach, and forsake their seven gods for never saving them of their suffering.

* * *

The first half of Theon's reign was not one of peace, and during the first four decades of his rule, he fought and won many wars, during which the Reach conquered the Misty Islands for decades before losing it not long after the end of his reign, took the Arbor from the Ironborn, adding the island to the domains of House Greystark of the Hightower, and made House Dayne of Starfall a vassal of the Starks, when Ferron II Dayne, the Sword of the Morning and last King of the Torentine, bent the knee.

War would also be brought directly to the Iron Islands, when Theon sailed North on the Sunset Sea in what would be called the "Rape of Great Wyk" (or "the worst middle-age crisis I ever saw" by his grandson, Rickard the Galant), when many tough the Sun had rose in the West and the Ironborn became so frightened that would be another two hundred years before one of their ships raided the coast of the Reach, even while controlling the mouth of the Mander.

The second half, in other hand, was one of peace, and he ruled more than any other king of Westeros with completely recorded dates, with him using the Weirwood Throne as his seat for ninety-four consecutive years, dying at the age of one-hundred and six and being succeeded by his great-great-great grandson, Beron II Stark, who ruled for a third of a century but was considered not one to remember.

In his memory, no other King in the Reach or in the South would name himself Theon, even if their enemies would pay homage with six Hoare Kings named after him, and the Bloody Wolf is still the sole one to bear the name, who was responsible for turning the words of House Stark from a simple warning about the cold and hard Winter and became instead the memory of the chill and dread brought by House Stark to its enemies.

The next millennia saw a remarkable neutrality by House Stark, with their biggest wars being fought to defend themselves from the Petty Kings of Dorne, the Storm Kings, the Kings of the Iron Islands and the Kings of the Rock, adding from time to time some lands to their domains, including half of the Dornish Marshes vassal to Storm's End. Rodrik III Stark, descendent of Theon in nine or ten generations, would also bring the Misty Islands, who he renamed Shield Islands, to the realm, when he won a wrestling match against the Ironborn after the death of Loron Greyjoy, who had taken the island during his father's reign after somehow taking the throne of House Hoare for a total of seventy years, being the sole High King of the Iron Islands before they regained their power.

The Stark also fought against their vassals sometimes, even if most of the rebellions were ended by the ways of treaties and marriages, besides the common taking of hostages, but the last great one to happen, incomparable to the time-to-time provocations of House Flint or House Dustin, was the Greystark Rebellion…


	2. Chapter 2

Synopsis: After the Long Night, Brandon the Builder stayed in the North, but what if, in a mood-swing that would forever be remembered, he decided that, truly, the neighbor had greened grass and moved South, and why not give a deserved payment to the Reach in the process? - This is the story of what happened after that, an ASOIAF AU were the North is in the Reach, and maybe vice-versa

Rating: M because I can't say if I wrote something more mature and gory or softer

Fandoms: A Song of Ice and Fire, I can write some character of the series but can't say is a crossover

Pairings: Not tough, but I'm a big fan of Jon/Daenerys, Arya/Edric Dayne/Gendry, Robb/Harem (he deserves it, the boy suffered enough already), Shireen/Edric Storm, Bran/Jojen and Rickon/Lyanna Mormont

...

 **Disclaimer: ASOIAF is not mine, period. Initial idea also can be considered it, look in Author's Note**

 **Author's Note:** So, to the guy who gave his review of the story, thanks! You don't imagine how good feels to have your writing somewath validated, but, for what you said, yeah, I also like the North and its location is perfect to the Others plotline so much that I don't even know if I will enter on it or create some other thing out of my hat (probably the second, just to warn you), but for your question about the why the people in the Reach still think like Northmen even with the new location, my line of tough was that originally they still retained the culture of the North after coming South ("Stark" as an word can mean things like harsh, blunt or barren, like the Northern culture is some ways) and when the Andals came, they retained it as an way to also differenciate them from the andalized regions.

In other matters, I don't know how much time it will take between chapters, as I'm the best person to write ten thousand words but find all utter nonsense and take weeks rewriting only to turn it into less than two thousand, so, yeah, updates will be irregular and probably slow more than fast. Also, I decided to change the name of the keep of House Bolton, originally was "Dreadwood" but since it's located were was Old Oak, the name now is "Dreadoak"; the chapters will be only numbered or have the name of a character from here on, since it seems I can't write a small title

 **EDIT (11/30/2018), due to thinking for some time and thing like that, i decided to change the end of this chapter to write a bit more about the Kings in the Reach after Brandon the Prophet (yes, this is his nickname), so please cope with me in this**

 **EDIT (2/13/2019): Due to don't thinking, I decided to read my already written chapters and ended up seeing a bunch of places where I tough there would be better ways to write (or more than it, writing errors, my most hated foe), so I made some mild edits**

Besides that, please, enjoy:

* * *

 **Part Two - The Greystark Rebellion and the Late Kings in the Reach**

During the reign of Edric IV Stark, known as the "Snowbeard" by his subjects, the rule of House Stark reached its lowest point, and, for the first time in its thousands of years of history, it reached the brink of total annihilation, a thousand and two hundred years before the Conquest.

A vain and mostly foolish king, even if he was known for being gallant and vigorous in his youth, he became King in the Reach at the age of three when his father, King Rodrik IX Oakenshield, suffered a stroke in his sleep, and never was too interested in ruling over his house's domains, surrounding himself with fools and flatterers and thinking more about feasts and whoring than about ruling.

During his eighty-five years of reign, he only leaved Highgarden six times, preferring the halls and gardens of his capitol than the strongholds of his vassals, and under his rule the Reach suffered.

Since he didn't wanted to rule, his vassals started to fend for themselves, many times using their personal armies to fight one-another, and while it happened, the Reach loosed lands in all sides, with the Yronwoods and Fowlers grabbing swats of land in the Red Mountains, only being pushed back by the local lords, the Storm Kings recovering their lands in the Dornish Marches, and the Kings in the Rock engulfing almost all lands north of the Dreadoak, laying siege to the castle for three and a half years and almost starving House Bolton out before being forced to stop after an invasion of the Ironborn in their northern coast.

But it was only when Snowbeard was already crippled and senile of old age that all reached its breaking point.

House Greystark of the Hightower, nowadays considered by many as simply one of the many branches of House Stark, was not simply an cadet of the wolves of Winterfell, no, it was the oldest of them all and the one held in highest regard within them, having been founded by the third son of Brandon the Builder himself, Torrhen the Grey Wolf, an mighty warrior known for his hair, made of curls as grey as an stormy sky since the age of 3.

When he conquered the Reach, Brandon gave to Torrhen the old domains of House Hightower, who renamed their capital, the City of Hightown (who would later be known as "Oldtown" if it continued), White Harbor, in reference to white stones that made most of the buildings in the city, while he took the Hightower as his seat.

During the centuries and millenniums that followed, House Greystark only grew in power and status in the Reach, first due to their control over the biggest city in Westeros, being one of the richest houses in the Reach, as also the owners of its biggest merchant fleet, and, later, due to their control over the Island of the Arbor, given by Theon Stark after he took it from the Ironborn.

The members of House Greystark were known, for much of their history, for their loyalty to their forefathers, House Stark, and no other lord received more trust and confidence than the Lord Greystark from Hightower, their words were "Blood, Thicker the Water", but, nonetheless, the time were their power flew over their heads came, during the reign of the Snowbeard.

Husband of a Greystark, the old king was never more foolish than with his cousins, giving more and more presents and rights to them during his reign, with the house growing in power and wealth at the pace of days and months were before had taken decades or centuries to reach. And, in the end, a man named Beron Greystark, known as "the Last" by the bards and maesters, became the Lord of the Hightower.

Son of his predecessor with one of the granddaughters of Snowbeard, Beron became head of his house when he was only twenty-five, after his father died hunting a boar, and he was as ambitious as he was rich, saying:

"Why can't I be the King? Me that am much wiser and powerful than the Old Fool of Winterfell"

Drunk by the power connected to his name and mad with ambition, he planned and he waited, bidding his time with uttermost care, forging swords and building ships on the dark of the night so spies wouldn't see and preparing for the war that he believed with all certainty would give House Greystark their rightful place as the rulers of the Reach, waiting for the right time to strike.

And that time came, as most of them are, with a death, as in the 85th year of his reign, the aged and senile Edric Snowbeard suffered an unrecoverable stroke and died after only four days, covered in his own filth, and when the old king died, Beron decided that it was the time, calling his banners and all lords that supported him and rising with his armies to take his bid for the Weirwood Throne, leading an force of 30.000 men in the direction of Winterfell. He had planned and he had waited and now was his time.

The only thing that he didn't expected, or simply forgot to think about, was another man between the descendants of the late Snowbeard, a twenty-two years old man named Brandon, called by the people as "of the Icy-Eyes", who was the only son of the second son of the now deceased heir of the king, and, unlike many of his relatives, was extremely interested on ruling, being believed as the representation in flesh and in blood of the family's name, Stark", with his eyes showing a cold-hearted and ruthless nature, looking "souless and cold like the freezing hells of the Long Night".

Known for being a complete change from his relatives both in appearance and in personality, with unsettling blue eyes and a pale-blonde hair and a thrive and want to rule correctly, he was, unlike his father, his grandfather and many of his cousins, considered by many lords great and small a true heir to the might of House Stark, infamous for his many, many, moments of fury upon relatives for their complete lack of with and unfitness for ruling even while being equally ambitious.

So, when he heard of the death of his ancestor and the rebellious acts of his cousin, he did not quiver or wait a second, and in the passing of a day declared himself the true heir of the Weirwood Throne, styling himself as the "King in the Reach, Fifty Second of his Name", sending ravens and messengers across the realm and asking for the lords' allegiances, many answered yes to his call, a part said no, and some stayed quiet, even while his grandfather by the side of his mother, the aging Lord Enmyl Bolton of the Dreadoak, sent for some reason a single man, his personal paramour.

And after uniting his supporters, Brandon went to war.

The conflict lasted three years, being named later as the "Greystark Rebellion", and it was not one of glory and honor, being marked by brutality and cruelty by both sides as they became more and more ruthless in their want for victory, and with a single battle, the Siege of Winterfell, being marked by the deaths of fifteen thousand men, ten of which were lords loyal to Beron Greystark, killed personally by Brandon as they served as bait to their fleeing lord.

Battles were fought bot in land as in sea, whit the loyalist fleet laying siege to the Arbor and conquering it while the Shield Islands were raided by the Ironborn, who took their chance seeing the chaos in the Reach. The neighboring kings and lords also took their prizes on the conflict, and took even bigger swats of land, with the King of the Rock, Leon III Lannister, controlling over all the lands north of the Shield Islands and West of the Golden Branch before being pushed back.

But, in the end, Beron's forces were defeated, with many being killed or imprisoned, and at last only his seat, the city of White Harbor, remained, being put under a brutal siege that lasted seven moons and some more day before ending.

"This day will be the last, and no one will dare to defy our rule again", said Brandon, moments before his forces stormed the gates of the city.

The Sacking of White Harbor lasted a whole day and night after that, with the city burning like a pyre while it was sacked by the loyalist army. White stone became red, and black after that, when the blood tainted it and burned to ashes. Men pillaged, killed and raped the smallfolk with a fury never seen.

And Brandon never let the ice in his eyes die that day, watching all with a heartless look while screams were heard.

House Greystark died that day, for Brandon followed his promise and ensured that no one would ever dare defy the rule of House Stark again.

All members of the family, from the main branch to the farthest and smallest of the cousins, were brought to him, many screaming or pleading mercy, but their suffering fell in deaf ears, for Icy-Eyes would not be merciful.

Beron was forced to watch as every men and women over the age of fourteen was killed, their impaled bodies left to burn as gruesome torches; after that, the children of the cadet branches were tied by the hands and given to the soldiers, be them boy or girls, and used as they saw fit, after that, the ones that still lived had their throats slit.

"an act of mercy", Brandon said.

And, in the end, only Beron and his four sons, as he had no daughters, still lived, and the Last was again forced to watch, having his eyelids cut to guarantee, while the three oldest were tied to stakes and burnt alive, and, he himself was devoured by Brandon's direwolf.

Only the youngest son of Beron, a boy of thirteen, was let live, if only because of some twisted kind of mercy, and he was stripped of all his titles and branded with hot iron as a traitor to all see, before being taken as a hostage to Dreadoak, were he would swear his vassalage to House Bolton and be given a small keep in the coast.

"Never Again", would be the words of House Sinstark, as the name Greystark was also stripped of him and made illegal to ever be used by another person, and never again they would betray House Stark, but never they would be forgiven, as to this day any dowry give to them will be smaller, and any dowry given by them will be higher than any other house, and their taxes will still be bigger than any house of same status as them.

As for White Harbor, it was added to the personal domains of House Stark, who would never give the lordship of the city to any house, preferring to have Lord Stewards chosen by the Lord of Winterfell, while the Arbor would be given to House Manderly, a house of the North who had been recently exiled from their lands by the King Perceon III Gardener, who gave the right of their domains to Lord Lorimar Peake.

For that, House Manderly would always be loyal to the Kings in the Reach, and never a Manderly would direct his sword or arrow to a member of House Stark.

* * *

Although Brandon Icy-Eyes would rule for two thirds of a century, and annex all lands lost by the Reach during the reign of his great-grandfather, slaying two Kings of the Rock, three Storm Kings and more than ten Dornish Kings in the process, as also rule over his lands with an iron fist while being loved by his people at the same time, his reign is considerably put aside by the events mattering his daughter 's life.

Brandon only married one time, in an arranged marriage with Amerei the Golden, the daughter of one of the Kings of the Rock who he killed, and by the time he was already a man hardened by old age, with his blond hair now truly white and his skin more wrinkled than crumpled paper, and from this marriage, who ended with the death of his wife in childbed, he had only a daughter, Lyanna, who was born with the traditional Stark hair and the blue unnerving eyes of her father.

A protective father as much as a cunning ruler, Brandon never married again, and from birth he prepared his daughter to be his successor, training her both in the ways of the sword and on the ways of politics and administration, knowing her rule would not be one of easiness.

Princess Lyanna became, with time, known as "the Beauty", due to her good looks, but no men could gain her hand in marriage, as she always declared, "fight me, if I yield, we shall be married. If you yield, you shall promise be always loyal but I will not be your wife", a hundred men tried, and a hundred men failed, in their try, giving more power to the princess, as they were heirs and lords, instead of wives.

Although she became known for loving the fire of battle, having commanded a war fleet against the ironborn and slaying in battle the King Mortag I "the One Killed by a Lady" Hoare, who had said would take her as his saltwife, Lyanna never as the happiest or the most animated of the persons, as she always was utterly bored and disinterest with the courtly life of Winterfell or the Reach

Because of that, she traveled across the Known World, and, in a uniquely long summer, she sailed North in the Sunset Sea, wanting to find some adventure fighting Wildlings in the Lands Beyond the Wall, were a woman would be seen as equal and would she would not have an advantage.

It was there that she finally met the person who would later become her lover, when, in one of her raids inland, she met the wildling bard Bael, a man with deep grey eyes and a bright red hair that tried to steal her as his bride and had a dream of uniting the wildling tribes, only to be knocked unconscious by a swing of her mace and taken prisoner to her ship.

A funny and light-hearted man, Bael rapidly make himself a part of the day-to-day life of the ship and Lyanna, many times singing to animate the crew and sharing with its princess and captain contests in the matter of mind and even drinking, being said to never had won against her even after a thousand tries.

With time, the two created a bond and a strong friendship, that became flirting with the passing of months and, in the end, the two fell head-over-heels in love for each other, and, when the time came, married under a carved weirwood tree, consuming their union there under the eyes of the Old Gods.

The two stayed two years together, while Icy-Eyes stayed in the Reach strangely fond of his daughter's relationship, and when time came to Lyanna came back to the Reach, leaving Bael to his declared ambition in becoming the King-Beyond-the-Wall, she sailed with a baby in her lap, a boy named Brandon, with the dark hair of his mother and one eye in honor of each parent, a trait still retained in House Stark to this day (even if there had been times where both eyes are of the infamous "Stark Blue").

Sadly, their relationship would not be one ended in happiness and joy, for Bael did became the King-Beyond-the-Wall, and one day invaded the North, at the time ruled by the King Gwayne VI Gardner, known as "the Fool", who slay him in battle and sent his dried head to Winterfell.

Seeing this, the now aged Lyanna broke on despair, killing herself by the way of jumping from the tallest tower in the castle, and her son, now King Brandon Stark, Fifty Third of His Name, united the greatest army to the time, seventy thousand men, and sailed to the North, passing by in the Iron Islands to a little time of pillaging and to guarantee their neutrality, and invaded the North by the Rills, killing thousands and setting ablaze Highgarden, chopping into pieces the Oakenseat of House Gardener before coming back to the Reach, accompanied by forty thousand wildling men, woman and children that followed his father South of the Wall and now settled some areas of the Red Mountains, becoming a part of the Mountain Clans of the Reach.

The North would take centuries to recover the heavy blow they received, while in the Reach Brandon received the title "Avenger", sitting back in his throne and again putting his domains in a state of neutrality.

Before dying, however, he made a strange, if correct, declaration to his descendants, who waited at his side, "Wait!", he said, half made of age but with a fire in his eyes, "Wait for the Sun that comes from East! Born of the water of the Great River with ten thousand flares and Coming to the Spear within the ship. Wait and thrive when it comes! As the Wolf will finally rule over the Sands!"


	3. Chapter 3

Synopsis: After the Long Night, Brandon the Builder stayed in the North, but what if, in a mood-swing that would forever be remembered, he decided that, truly, the neighbor had greened grass and moved South, and why not give a deserved payment to the Reach in the process? - This is the story of what happened after that, an ASOIAF AU were the North is in the Reach, and maybe vice-versaRating: M because I can't say if I wrote something more mature and gory or softer

Fandoms: A Song of Ice and Fire, I can write some character of the series but can't say is a crossover

Pairings: Not tough, but I'm a big fan of Jon/Daenerys, Arya/Edric Dayne/Gendry, Robb/Harem (he deserves it, the boy suffered enough already), Shireen/Edric Storm, Bran/Jojen and Rickon/Lyanna Mormont

...

 **Disclaimer: ASOIAF is not mine, period. Initial idea also can be considered it, look in Author's Note**

 **Author's Note:** Happy new year everyone, that 2019 may be not full of shit, after having to deal with my family in the holidays I finally wrote the complete chapter of the Late Kings in the Reach, and wish that you all like it. The preview chapter will be later deleted today or tomorrow but the Author's Note from it will be copied here right now.

 _Also, due to me being me, the chapters will probably not be posted in a short period between them because the oldest the story is with me, the longest i have to think about how the next chapter will go, with the first ones being posted after each other in a short amount of time and the time between post growing with each new one, so, probably you will see many SLOW UPDATES from here on._

 _Also, Thanks to all the people who commented on the chapters, if you post some question, I'll answer it by PM (so probably guests won't recieve answers, at least if i don't change my mind about it), any criticism is always accpeted and will be heard equally, but please, if you simply want to be a jackass and write something like "Is so dumb that real authors don't do it" well, you are free to do it, but sincerely, why do you even readed it until the second chapter if you think is crap, is not like the fact that this story will have Stark-Wank wasn't warned on the first Author's Note._

Well, after that, wish you all a goo 2019

Good reading, Cyberbook

 **EDIT (2/13/2019): Due to don't thinking, I decided to read my already written chapters and ended up seeing a bunch of places where I tough there would be better ways to write (or more than it, writing errors, my most hated foe), so I made some mild edits**

* * *

 **Part Three - The Late Kings in the Reach**

At first, none could understand the worlds of Brandon the Avenger, believing them as simply mad ramblings of an old and senile man for the first century and a half after his death, while the kings that ruled during that time became known as petty or simply as a little off, being more incapable, cruel or simply more stupid than many of those who came before them on the Weirwood Throne.

Latter on time, they became known as the Failure Kings.

Benjen the Sixth, called the Good probably due to being the best in comparison to those who preceded him, was both the first and most capable of the five, ruling for almost five decades after the death of his grandfather, and while he did not bring disgrace or ruin to the Reach, he couldn't focus on one thing and go with it, and any project always ended with him changing his mind.

He also suffered from some sort of mental illness, for he ferociously rejected the use of any clothing, saying that they fell like a thousand cockroaches walking over his skin, and hated sleeping on a bed, preferring to rest with the direwolves on the kennels of Winterfell, sometime howling with them to the full moon, because of that some called him "Wolf King".

His successor was Edwyle, Eight of His Name, his grand-nephew, who inherited the throne because his uncle never married or had bastards that he could legitimize, and the man that even before his rise to power was already called "the Petty" became King in the Reach.

Ruling for over three decades from the age of forty-two to the age of seventy-three, he was, as his nickname inclines, incredibly petty and capable of holding grudges, besides his love for anything that shone, and his rule was one of tyranny and cruelty, for he used his power and status to take lands and wealth from nobles who he decided had wronged him, while the taxes during his reign only not rose more from the normality because he blocked off the Sunset Sea from anyone trying to cross the White Straits, since the tariffs to any ship that tried to cross the Two Towers were so astonishingly high that half of the ships simply went back and sold their products on the Stormlands, Vale and Dorne, since the rich ports of the Westerlands or even of the Iron Islands were cut off from their reach.

Unlike his uncle, Edwyle the Petty did marry during his life, having four wives but having children only with the last of them, Selyse of House Manderly, known by some as the "Dread" due to having grown in the halls of her uncle, Lord Bolton, and following the old traditions of said house, being said to have a purse made of the flayed face of a man.

The children of those two, a couple of boys, became known for being the first a lazy and disinterested ruler and the second an utter monster.

Harrion the Third, known as the "Lazy", ruled as King in the Reach from the age of eleven until the age of forty-nine, and his reign was all things besides fondly remembered, for he was disinterested in almost everything, always looking gloomy or tired, and had some sort of problem that made him forget things easily, with even the act of eating being forgotten from time to time, making him thin and bony.

Inheriting a land in chaos, since his father had died suddenly of an exploded vein on his head when his sons were only eleven, he did almost nothing to change it, and barely acted when, shortly after his coronation, an unexpected flooding of the Mander happened, and half of the reach was drowned in water, killing hundreds of thousands and half of the crops that year, while the Winter that came on the following caused hunger and mass death across the land.

The following decades of his rule, while ones of peace, since while being incompetent on ruling their lands, the Failure Kings still had an army strong enough to put fear on their neighbors, were not ones of prosperity, being mostly dull when not terrible, whit the most interesting thing being Harrion's Queen, Lelia Hoare, also known as the Pirate Queen by some, for she had married the lazy king not for alliances or interests and yes for love, and was not a woman like those of her time.

Daughter of Harmund Hoare, known by his people as the "Monster" and by the people of the continent as the "Handsome", she had escaped the same faith of her father and grandmother by jumping off the windows of her tower on House Hoare's castle in Orkmont, swimming all her way across the sea to Harlaw and there stealing a fisherman's boat, which she used to sail to the Summer Sea and become a pirate, sailing for a decade before she met Harrion on a travel to White Harbor, settling down and becoming the heart of the Reach.

The two had a son, but both hated him with more force than anything in the world, and when he died, the two barely cried, before having to deal with the fact that he had only a daughter, Meera, who as forced to marry her grand-uncle, Benjen Stark.

And, when Harrion died whit his wife of some kind of pox, this marriage brought to the Reach suffering and terror not seen since then, for Benjen the Seventh, who would be known as the "Bloody King", the "Cruel" or simply the "Bad", and be the last Benjen to seat on the Weirwood Throne, was a man of many desires and insanities, and his reign showed it.

He ruled for a grand total of eight years, of which seven were covered by rain, with the Mander again rising against its borders while Horn Hill and other castles close to the Red Mountains were damaged by landslides and the seat of House Crane was surrounded by the waters of the Red Lake for so much time that the castle is still an island to this day.

And while his vassals and subjects suffered, he roamed around the lands of the Reach with a personal army, always traveling during night and killing and torturing freely peasants and even some smaller noble houses, that didn't become extinct by the sole reason that the mad king was terrifyingly obsessed with the prolongation of bloodlines, and while his men raped the children and women of those houses, they did not kill them, even if Stonebridge was sacked and still hadn't recovered after a hundred years of their attack by Benjen.

In the end, of course, the madness and cruelty did have to end, and his son, who at the time was still only fourteen-years-old, became King in the Reach when a prostitute (as the late King, after killing his subjects, decided to bring destruction to the Riverlands) strangulated him with her hair braids in Stony Sept.

The newly crowned king, Brandon the Fifty-Fourth, was the last and the less involved of the Failure Kings, and while, like his predecessors, was somewhat strange to a degree, his rule was one of recovery to the Reach, for he knew that he wasn't capable of ruling, not having the dedication or intelligence to that, and had many councilors and ministers from the lowest to the highest grounds of society to help him rule, while his mother, Meera Stark, served as his Royal Regent until death.

In the end, he barely had to rule, only having to oversee the government from time to time and trusting his advisor and ministers, and while that happened, he could also have a life outside of the rule, as the King was known in the courts to be more of a "Queen", and had dressed as a woman since he was a child, dancing in a dress and with a wig even while in court and sleeping more with men than with women.

But, even with all his oddities, Brandon the Queen did the best that the Reach could ask of him, and had a son, not by marriage, as everyone knew he would prefer to be fed to a direwolf than to marry, but with a prostitute of Wintertown, a boy who was legitimized at the age of seven and was so loved by even the nobles that could inherit the throne after him that no person declared him unfit or not deserving to rule, and when his father died, Cregan the Black became King in the Reach.

Born from a one night stand of his father and a woman from one of the smaller brothels of Wintertown, the Laughing Rose, Cregan the Black lived for the first seven years of his life as somewhat of a street urchin, pickpocketing and stealing while his mother worked on the streets as prostitute, many times gaining only enough to keep a roof over their heads and a sheet over them during the colder nights, what would have continued if not for a stroke of luck, as for, during the Harvest Festival that each year took Wintertown with festivities, he tried and failed to pickpocket his own father, who was passing by vested on a dress and kissing almost every man on the crowd.

Sadly (or luckily), the pickpocketing failed, and Cregan was grabbed by his arm by the disguised king, who, upon seeing his face, immediately recognized him as his son, for are times when a father can identify his children without never having met them before, and embraced him on a strong and furious hug, taking the boy, who was not understanding any of what happened, to Winterfell.

Upon returning to the castle, not only Brandon the Queen legitimized him as his son and took Cregan and his mother to live in Winterfell, but made the until now bastard the heir to the Weirwood Throne and the crown, a move not only unexpected, but that outraged some of the lords, who due to kinship were possible heirs to Winterfell if Brandon's line ended without a legitimate heir.

But that was not a matter of importance to the Queen, who let his many advisers and even his mother deal with the backlash and fend back any treat fiercely, while he focused on creating the child that until then he had never known was his, preparing him to become a king that the Reach would remember fondly and giving him a firmer ground to start.

Because of that newfound dedication, Cregan grew surrounded not only by the best professors and tutors, going from maesters to wisemen from lands as far as Yi Ti and Asshai to even some merchants and military leaders from Valyria, so he could train and grown his mind and knowledge, but also by the heirs of the great and minor lords of the Reach, so when the time to become King come, he would have a strong support.

Cregan himself grew out of the years of his childhood, becoming sly and ambitious, but also cautious enough to known how to wait, and the time with the heirs of other houses did not to prejudice him, who planned and manipulated and made friends with almost every single one of them in one way or another.

He didn't play the Game, as some may say, no, he controlled the game, and every player simply walked on the tip of his hands.

Cregan the Black became King in the Reach at the age of twenty-four and would rule until the age of sixty-one, and while some of the older generation still held some prejudices, no noble, big or small, made a noise against him on the Weirwood Throne, whit the young king starting his reign strong and powerful, a thing that wouldn't slip away from him with the passing of years.

A pragmatic and resourceful man, Cregan initiated his reign, as many kings do, with his marriage, wedding the daughter of Lord Beesbury of Honeyholt, a rich vassal that while not having the largest or most fertile lands, was still a major player on the realm, being kin to the most powerful houses of the Reach and having a strong Stark blood running on him (that some say even showed on him by the way of warging on a bee hive).

Cregan also created new laws right on the start, being supportive of the children born out of wedlock and from sex workers, he decreed that any child born a bastard, be it of noble or a commoner, should be created by his father's family, and that if a parent could not be found, the child should be taken by the local lord or lady, who should give them a roof and a work when they came of age, he also prohibited the beating or mutilating of women, with a man being prohibited of hurting his wife or any woman by any other way tan a slap, and that should he do any worse, the victim had the permission to give it back. Some say that it was due to his infancy that those laws were created but Cregan, when asked, only said:

"Why the King does and why the King does not isn't important. The important is that those who heard obey"

His reign continued to see acts on a similar not across the Reach, since Cregan, even while living with the nobility for decades, still tough about those of the smallfolk, and while he wouldn't give equal rights between all his subjects (as they seemed outrageous even to him), he would end serfdom on the Reach on the tenth year of his reign, an act that still is only seen on the Reach.

It was also after the decree freeing all serfs that he showed his true colors, and was called "the Black" for that, for when his decree was signed and showed to the nobility, some of them were outraged, and while other supported Cregan, who was still friends with most of the great houses of the Reach, many shouted against him, calling his rule illegitimate and that he was mocking the rights that belonged to them for millennia, and Cregan, who always presented himself as an easy-going and friendly man, showed for the first time the cold and stern man that he truly was inside, and who he would show himself to be for the second half of his reign.

"You will not speak in that way against me ever again, for remember, I am the King, I am not a simpleton fool that you can mock and simply say that is an illegitimate ruler because he didn't agree with you. I do not expect you to agree with me, for I know that a man is an animal moved by sin and by want, but you will respect me, and you will obey me. Do not dare to do again what you all tried this day, do not disrespect me ever again, and don't even think about defying me and rebelling, for I will remember what happened today, and I will forgive any of you who tried to defy me on this day, this is your last chance to show that you all are not simple-minded fools that can't see your betters, for if you try again to disobey me in any kind or form, your Houses will end, and your Seats and Strongholds will fall, for the Winter Is Coming to those who dare against me, and the Autumn is already upon"

No noble ever again said anything against Cregan the Black.

But with all his doings on his own lands and domains, Cregan the Black is better known for what he did on the matters of foreign policy, since, unlike his predecessors, who already were not the brightest of their age, he took some interest about the last words of his ancestor, Brandon the Avenger, and, when his dark-brown hair was already turning grey, he finally understood what he had said, what had to be done so said prophecy was not only made true, but also made more easy.

Although he was still powerful and feared, there had already some years that the King had become disinterested on the matters of ruling, and started to give powers to his son and heir, Jojen, while he started to focus more on the matters of trade and the Dornish, but even then, it was mostly thinking on ways to conquer the lands of western Dorne, or finally make the Yronwood or the Fowler stop their timely invasions of the Reach.

So, when he out of nowhere decided to take a ship on White Harbor and set sail to the domains of a minor house of Eastern Dorne, who until then had as its major doing its own foundation, some of the nobles of the Reach (including his own son) tough that maybe the years had finally reached him and Cregan had finally become senile, but still, he was largely trusted and even those who worried that he had lost his mind still decided to not openly say anything. And what followed was, to put mildly, unexpected.

 _(LOOK OUT! My first try at writing, even if really small, a scene on this fic)_

Cregan the Black set foot on the docs around the Sandship, the ugly and strange keep of House Martell, in a thunderous afternoon, as if the skies knew what would happen and not only showed some strange form of approval, looking with a blank face as he was greeted by the young, but ambitious, Lossar Martell, a cunning man that had become lord just some moons beforehand.

"Welcome to my petty and lowly seat, oh great King in the Reach, the highest visitor to ever touch this lands, lets share salt and b-"

"Cut with the pleasantries, Martell, if I wanted to be adulated I would have stayed in Winterfell, at least there the weather isn't a natural oven", the aged King interrupted, while the two slowly rode to the keep.

"Of course, of course, what brings your Grace here, so far from your realm? But if the skies say something, probably is good, rain isn't a common occurrence in this lands"

"Business"

"What kind of business, you say?"

"The kind that if done right will make your house the most powerful in Dorne… and mine the most powerful in Westeros"

"Tell me more about it", Lossar said, while the two entered his solar, only to walk out on the following morning.

 _(And here ends this attempt at writing a scene)_

What the two talked or did inside the lord's solar during that night, since even the servants and guards were prohibited from even passing by, under the threat of execution (not that many _interesting_ theories didn't appeared), but when the two men walked out of it, a secret deal had been struck between them, and House Martell became the secret vassal of the Reach, only waiting for their time of reveal.

Cregan died only two years after his encounter with Lossar Martell (who would live to see his ninety-nine nameday before passing) when his stomach exploded and the loss of blood took his life, and was succeeded by his son, Jojen, the Eight, that had already ruled the Reach one way or another for almost a decade before oficially becoming King.

An uninteresting and unimaginative man, even if a fair and just ruler, he was not a ruler on the types of his father, and his reign marked the mood for the following five hundred years or so, during which most of the rulers of the Reach were not the most interesting or memorable, and while the Reach prospered in wealth and power, only some Kings could be truly called as "good" or "impressive", or at least were memorable due to being unique in their own strange way, or had a children or two that would enter to history.

The first of said kings that deserved to be remembered was Jojen's grandson, Edderion the Third, who during his lifetime received the mocking name of "Bridegroom", since after an early elopement with a cousin of his, who denied his love, he passed the next twenty years of his life trying to marry, first to his noblewomen, second to foreigners and, at last, ended up marrying a woodswitch named Lisa.

Following him was Edric the Fifth, who became King at the age of fifty-two and only ruled for a total of nine moons before dying, but during that small amount of time he received the fitting nickname of "Lumberjack", since at each moon of his reign he chopped off the head of an Yronwood King, who tried and failed to invade the Reach in a swift succession.

Artos the Ninth, while not nearly as memorable as his father, became infamous for his only and beloved daughter, Sansa, a strong-willed and determined girl that during her twenty-five years of live became known as "the Lover" in the Reach, being the mistress of half the lords in the realm for years, before dying of grief for the death of a hedge knight that she had fell head-over-heels in love.

Artos great-grandson, Brandon the Fifty-Seventh, became the next on the line, being known trough history as "Stonejaw" or "the Maester", he was the fifth and youngest son of his father by his third marriage, and being half made since childhood (having the strange obsession of eating rocks), was let travel to the Citadel under a disguise to become a Maester, but while he would without a doubt collect as much knowledge as any other of the order, he never had a single link on his chain, and when his brothers killed each other, he inherited the Weirwood Throne. His reign was considered a bright one for the time, since he used what he had learned on the Citadel to better the Reach, creating irrigation systems in the lands of House Dayne and starting the use of terraces to cultivate crops in the Red Mountains.

His son, strangely also named Brandon, went a step further, and while his father had used the knowledge of the Citadel to bring wealth to the Reach, he knew only what he learned on his time in the order, while Brandon the Fifty-Eight sent on purpose almost a hundred people to become novices on the Citadel, making them learn what they could and, after that, return to the Reach, were they would write their knowledge down in a large library that he built on White Harbor, that whit time would only grew and grew in size, for that, he became known as "the Librarian".

Brandon own son would also be remembered for something, deciding that simply the books weren't enough, and creating basically his own version of the Citadel on the Reach, a relatively smaller order more focused on knowledge than in supporting any noble family or any lord, having as their own responsibility find ways to better the Reach in some way, and record to history of the region without the bias that normally came from other regions, that due to a strong resentment still called the people of the Reach "barbarians".

Tormund the Sixth, who ruled only a century before Nymeria's Thousand Ships, was a ruthless and cruel man, even if his people loved him madly, and during his reign he became known as "the Pink" in Westeros, not due to using the colors of his mother's house's banner, but because he was an albino, and during his reign he fought more than eight wars against all his neighbors and even waged war against the North once more for the sake of it, and the blood covered him so much that his hair became pink.

His son, Axel the Third, became known as Axel Honeyblood both because he was so sweet in his demeanor and actions and because of his love for any kind of sweets, so fanatically obsessed with them that he even created some, and he ate so much sugar that, when cut, his blood would not run like water, and instead would fall slowly like honey.

Axel's third son, Eddard, never became King, after all, he had two older brothers, but is also remembered for something, having during his live traveled north to the High Kingdom of Skagos, were he fell madly in love with its High Queen, Terra the Third of House Crowl, marrying her and bringing the advancements of the Reach to Skagos with the marriage, that made the small snowy nation a powerhouse in the extreme north of Westeros, even investing in expansionism on the Lands Beyond the Wall.

The last of those memorable kings was, ironically, also the last King in the Reach proper, Thormund the Seventh, called the "Conqueror" by his people, because it was during his reign, only two years after the birth of his only son and heir with a girl of House Dayne, that Brandon the Avenger's Prophecy became true, for House Martell sent a raven telling of a Rhoynar Princess and her ships and her warrior people landing on the shores of their lands.

The time had finally come to the Conquest of Dorne.


	4. Chapter 4

Synopsis: After the Long Night, Brandon the Builder stayed in the North, but what if, in a mood-swing that would forever be remembered, he decided that, truly, the neighbor had greened grass and moved South, and why not give a deserved payment to the Reach in the process? - This is the story of what happened after that, an ASOIAF AU were the North is in the Reach, and maybe vice-versa

Rating: M because I can't say if I wrote something more mature and gory or softer

Fandoms: A Song of Ice and Fire, I can write some character of the series but can't say is a crossover

Pairings: Not tough, but I'm a big fan of Jon/Daenerys, Arya/Edric Dayne/Gendry, Robb/Harem (he deserves it, the boy suffered enough already), Shireen/Edric Storm, Bran/Jojen and Rickon/Lyanna Mormont

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 **Disclaimer: ASOIAF is not mine, period. Initial idea also can be considered it**

 **Autor's Note:** I'm Baaaaack!

So, after more than a month without writing anything, I'm finally posting something here, and, if you all read it, you'll notice that I have changed some aspects of my original formula due to a mix between wanting to at least post something and trying to create an way to post more frequently, also, since I'm writing this in many parts as if it was an history book, what better than to have some points to explain on the bottom of the chapter when if I tried to write it into the chapter would look forced. Also, there's a part where I sort of mix the "history book" part with a bit of dialogue

Because of that, I would extremely appreciate if you all reviewed to tell if it's a good or a bad idea and I should go back to the original way, this time is not simply to hear some good'n old comments to inflate my ego (not that I don't like it, flattering is always good), I really need a way to know if my decision to change things a little bit is a good one or not.

Also, in another matter completely, the past chapters have some changes made here and there due to the simple matter that I noticed that some parts didn't flow correctly (and since I had to revise the timeline due to somehow reading that Nymeria came to Westeros in 400 BC instead of 700 BC) or the writing was wrong.

Now, without ado...

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 **Part Four, Section I - The Conquest of Dorne, No War Starts with Battles**

He was respected and trusted by his nobles, he was idolized by his people, and his word was an unquestionable law, so, when he declared in a morning that he would, out of the blue, travel all the way to the tip of Dorne and put his cousin Wulfric as his regent for the time, no one thought about commenting on it or declaring that to be an absurd idea.

And for the moons that he stayed outside of the Reach, unlike many kings before, no lord tried to rebel, no enemy tried to invade, and his regent didn't try to crown himself king

* * *

Tormund VII docked on the port of the Sandship, the still ugly seat of House Martell, on the 8th day of the 3rd moon of his reign, the sea itself was "calm" per say, and the sky didn't indicated of any storm on the horizon if the records are true, but the docs were the opposite, full to the brim of ships big and small that accumulated around the shores, for the Rhoynar had came there only some weeks before, their ships carrying the symbol of the blazing Sun as they again fled trying to find a new home, with some of the vessels being so damaged that their masts had fallen and they had to be dragged by others across the waters.

Many say that, upon seeing the state of things, he drooled of excitement, but that is probably only a half truth, for while he was probably awed by the view, he was still a King, and no monarch would fall so low to the point of letting himself fall to the scrutiny of being seen drooling.

I was still amazed that Tormund VII rode with his entourage to the sandstone fortress of House Martell, passing by the markets and streets of the settlement around it until its gates and courtyard, where he was greeted by its lord:

"Welcome to my abode, your Majesty*", Mors Martell said, bowing slightly, he was close to his thirty-fourth nameday at the time and, like many of his ancestors, was as cunning as he was loyal.

Accompanying him (besides na appropriate guard), were two women.

The first, an relatively small woman of olive sink and deep black hair clothed on the famous Rhoynish fish-scaled armor, was Nymeria, in the past Princess of Ny Sar and the last royal of the Rhoynar, responsible or leading the fleet that comprehended the fleeing remains of said people, she was young, even too much, and was thin and bony, caved cheeks from hunger and an hauntingly distrustful look marking her face.

The second, taller than any man there and even thinner that the princess, was almost her complete opposite, an albino wearing a long and multi-colored vest made of layers of silk and cloth crossed by stitches, the Grand Priestess Druselka, the leader of the Rhoynar religion by lack of others, she had a mix of excitement and utter madness on her eyes, and many said that she hadn't eaten since they parted from the Summer Isles**. Her voice was the first heard:

"Your Majesty, we-"

"So this is the "wolf" that will bring salvation to our people, Druselka", Nymeria asked, interrupting her companion mid-sentence.

"Well, your Serenity, ma-", Druselka said, being again interrupted.

"From what I see, staying by your side will mean only the enslavement of my people by the Westerosi instead of those damned Dragonlords, what you have to say about it, _your Majesty_ ", the princess asked, a bitter tone on her voice as flames blazed in her eyes.

Always the charmer, Tormund decided to try and talk to the princess, at the same time that he basically dragged her into the castle:

"Your Serenity, don't be so fast in condemning me", he smiled, "why we don't go and talk on Lord Mors' solar, where the servants can't hear or comment"

And with that the group left the courtyard, starting the moves that would seal the fate of Dorne forever.

* * *

They talked for almost two moons on what would be later named and known as "The Talks on the Fate of the Rhoynar" and the "Conference of Conquest" by historians, two moons where Tormund VII and Nymeria fought a personal war, first of words, with quick-witted comments and sharp words that shortly developed into shouting matches, and second of fists and kicks and knees and elbows and foreheads, with king, princess, lord and great priestess coming out of it with bruises, cuts and a dozen black eyes.

But, after all of it, they managed to struck a deal, marked by one hundred and nine points and stipulations here and there about trade, politics and relations all around, but, over it, there were some major declarations made by the union between all points.

The Rhoynar, be them born in Westeros or in their old lands at the Rhoyne or during their travels to a new home, would be let live wherever they wanted under House Stark and their vassals, with some lands being set to them to live in the coast of the Broken Arm and of the Misty Bay, with Druselka being made to lead those who wanted to their new lands on the Reach, made unpopulated by plague some years before.

And, more than that and in memory of the deal made by Cregan the Black centuries earlier, Mors Martell and his descendants would be made the new overlords of Dorne under House Stark, with him and Nymeria in a symbol of union and to set the deal (besides possibly being in love, as many register that they had grown fond of each other during the talks), being married to each other, making the new House of Nymeros Martell of Sunspear (as the old Sandship was renamed).

After that, with the new couple being married by the ways of both the Rhoynar and the Old Gods less than a week after the end of the talks, Tormund VII stayed half of another moon there, and upon the left of his ships from the docs, Nymeria, as another symbol of their union and to mark that now the Rhoynar had a new land to call their own, set ablaze the many irreparable vessels on her fleet***,, riding on a horse with a torch, and, upon finishing it, declaring boldly on the musical language of her people:

"For many years we have traveled, for many years we have fled, for many years we have suffered and feared as we were forced from our homes time and again, and many times I feared that I would be the last Princess to rule over our people, that death or enslavement would be the end of our history. But I was proved wrong, we will not end and we will not flee again! We have found finally our destiny! We will not again be forced out by monsters and slavers! For now we have a new land on the Sunset! We will stay! And we WILL THRIVE HERE!

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* Since the reign of Theon Stark and his early successors , the surviving sovereign states of "pure" First Men heritage created ways to differentiate themselves from the Andals that now ruled most of Westeros: The Crannogmen in the Neck mantained the title on the Old Tongue of Magnar instead of calling their rulers "Kings" and rarely bred outside of their lands; the Skagosi, prone to kidnaping their consorts in raids, talked only on their personal hybrid language, a mix of Andalic and the Old Tongue, and were a matriarchy; and the Reach, less isolated than any of them, was more subtle and simply changed the treatments to nobility and royalty, with the king being "his majesty", princes being "his grace", and nobles being divided in some nine ranks, with the highest being "highness" while the lowest was "the eminent"

** Druselka's decision of staying with Nymeria until Dorne was considered by many of her compatriots as unexpected, since for a great part of their voyages she was the main defender of going back and trying to take back their homeland, a position that only changed when she almost died from something on Sothoryos and had a vision during her time bedridden, starting to defend that the Rhoynar went to Westeros since then for it was the will of Mother Rhoyne

*** A small sect of the Rhoynar refugees were saddened by the Burning of the Ships, and while they stayed in Westeros, they denied becoming a "part" of it, living on boathouses traveling the Greenblood, the waters around the south of Westeros and the Mander as a species of remnant of the old Rhoynar, maintaining their culture and language and not mixing with the people of the continent. They are known as "The Orphans"

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So what, you all thought about the chapter, the talking parts looked realistic? Nymeria's way of speaking looked good or plain dumb? Tell Me!

Thanks to anyone who read to the end, Cyberbook


	5. Chapter 5

Synopsis: After the Long Night, Brandon the Builder stayed in the North, but what if, in a mood-swing that would forever be remembered, he decided that, truly, the neighbor had greened grass and moved South, and why not give a deserved payment to the Reach in the process? - This is the story of what happened after that, an ASOIAF AU were the North is in the Reach, and maybe vice-versa

Rating: M because I can't say if I wrote something more mature and gory or softer

Fandoms: A Song of Ice and Fire, I can write some character of the series but can't say is a crossover

Pairings: Not tough, but I'm a big fan of Jon/Daenerys, Arya/Edric Dayne/Gendry, Robb/Harem (he deserves it, the boy suffered enough already), Shireen/Edric Storm, Bran/Jojen and Rickon/Lyanna Mormont

* * *

 **Disclaimer: ASOIAF is not mine, period. Initial idea also can be considered it**

 **Autor's Note:** Whos there!?

Its just me! Posting a new chapter only a week after the previous one! I have nothing to say besides how hard is to type this notes on my cellfone (should I wait some more tine next time to have something to say? Nah), so, here's the new chapter.

Cyberbook, wishing you a good reading

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 **Part Four, Second Act - The Conquest of Dorne, And Now it Begins**

Although the meeting at the Sandship between Tormund VII and the Dornish is listed as the official start of the Conquest of Dorne (Or the War for Dorne, as some call), the first battles of the conflict only happened almost eight moons later, with the time between the two being called "the Time of Preparations", as the Reachmen and the Rhoynar in some way or another prepared themselves for what was to come.

On the Broken Arm over the thin but long strip of lands controlled by House Martell at the coast, Mors and Nymeria, now ruling from the renamed castle of "Sunspear", trained their ragtag army of refugees from a hardened but unskilled force to something that could be placed against the more prepared forces of the Dornish, more than a third of all those brought by her were within it, while the third of a million Rhoynar under their command lived mostly out of fishing of the sea and from the desalinized water casted by their enchantresses*.

While their compatriots were trained or used as laborers on the east, on the west the Rhoynar also had their own actions to do, as the Great Priestess Druselka and a part of her followers, 10.000 people (although the bulk of it, made of another 70.000 would only follow her later on), started the first of the Neo-Rhoynar Cities** at the southern mouth of the River Mander, mixing with the remaining smallfolk of the region easily, as their main deity, Mother Rhoyne, and all others of their Pantheon could be easily translated to the Old Gods, giving them a common resemblance to interact.

And as much as his new subjects (or allies, as some could say), Tormund VII did the same and prepared, himself and his bannermen on the Reach, passing day and night and many times not eating as he prepared and dismissed dozens of plans of strategy and how to administer his realm during the war, consulting the Librarians*** more than a dozen times a moon and having a battalion of them at his side any time, calling his bannermen in three different moments for reports on their personal forces and calculating even how much time could the Reach last before it was run dry of manpower and resources, or how to do if one of its neighbors invaded during the conflict.

The King was so through on his planning that he did not care about himself, and the days on end without food or sleep took a tool on him, with a graying hair by the weeks and a thinning body, he would launch the first attacks of war, sending ravens to Sunspear, Starfall, Nightsong and the Parchments, but would not see them, for he was bedridden from exhaustion on the same day (although some spoke of poison).

But not even the illness of the King would change plans, Tormund the Seventh had made his orders clear.

It was time for War.

* * *

When the ravens came to Sunspear, carrying with them the "simple" orders of "conquer all East of the Brimstone that is not under Yronwood's rule", as even the ambitious Tormund VII knew his plans could not be focused on the matters of Eastern Dorne at least on its earlier stages, sending only a simplified objective but not its strategies, Nymeria and Mors acted fast (even after having a set of twin less than a turn of the moon before) on setting their forces into action, and after setting her younger brother**** as the temporary Steward of Sunspear and the caretaker of her daughters, the two went to the docs to set sail.

It was by their fleet, just before it parted, that the couple enacted the last of the many matters of immediate politics set by the deal made moons prior, a last way of symbolizing the fact that now the Rhoynar lived in Dorne, and she acclaimed him:

"By the Old Gods and the New, and by the Mother Rhoyne in all her Glory, Ruler of the Red and the White Sands, of the Rivers and the Wells and of the Cliffs and Mountains, the Prince of Dorne and of its People!"

An then they departed, with a host of 30.000 soldiers, to the castle of Spottswood on the north of the Broken Arm, reaching the small-sea side fortress that House Santagar called of seat a week later and laying siege to it on the same day.

While not remembered as much as the other battles that would come, more bloody or more unexpected or more longer in comparison, the Siege of Spottswood is still a important point of the War for Dorne, being its first true battle and possibly the less bloody of them all for the forces of House Stark and its vassals, as it lasted only a day and two nights, with the siege-engines on the Rhoynar boats attacking the castle from afar and the entire battle being ended by the simple act of the maester*****, a men from the Reach, opening the gates under the cover of night.

The Rhoynar poured into the castle with the help, and soon Ser Emyl Santagar was forced to bent the knee, and while he would be elevated to the title of Lord, as landed-knights were against nobility laws on the Reach (even if knighthood was accepted), his only son and heir, a boy of ten, was taken hostage to Sunspear, and his forces were drafted into the ones under Mors, with a small Rhoynar garrison being the only thing left to defend his own seat.

* * *

While that happened on the East, similar events devolved on the West by the Red Mountains, with two forces going against the petty kings of the region, one from the South, by the Torrentine, and the other from the North, by the Wide Way.

The first of them to reach their objective was the one South, parting from Starfall under the command of the aged Lord Vorian Dayne, and grey and old man who in the past had held the title of "Sword of the Morning", with a force of 2500 men up the River Torrentine destined to the castle of Blackmont, passing by High Hermitage in the way and drafting other 400 to their ranks.

They reached said "destiny" almost a moon later, following slowly due to the constant skirmishes between them and Blackmont's forces, and after a shirt and unsuccessful parley with the young King, put the castle, one too small even for the weakest of the petty kings of the Red Mountains, under siege, with the forces being divided into two groups, one to attack during day and the other during night.

And for all that it mattered, the castle, while defeated, managed to hold against Dayne's attacking forces for almost two weeks before not the attacks, that first covered the fields in blood and latter the walls themselves, but hunger, forced the defenders do open the gates in surrender, with the King Benedict Blackmont being taken as a mix between prisoner and guest to Starfall.

* * *

The second, in comparison, did not fare as much.

More than doubling the size of the army under the Sword of Evening, being made of of almost 7000 men of the Dornish Marches under the command of the young lords Armistead Caron and Florian Penrose, brothers-in-law and lifelong "friends", who leaded their forces across the Wide Way en route to the seat of the Fowler Kings after the very much untimely death of Caron's father and Penrose's brother.

They leaded the army across the mountains for the good part of the turn of a moon, but all the time did not found a single person, not a single traveler or trader and when they passed by the small villages dotting the area, only found abandoned houses and farms lacking even its animals. Some were angry, for they wanted to fight, and others were relieved, as they didn't had to fight their way, but some found it unnerving.

"It's all silent, too silent", Caron commented a day.

But even with their doubts, the army continued its march.

Their first encounter with a local happened shortly after, for when they saw the tall pale-blue castle on the top of a slope, the Blind King Garrison himself awaited them on its gates, asking for a parley.

"Surrender", Penrose said, "And you can mantain all your titles and vassals"

"Surrender now", Caron declared, as the blind ruler didn't answered, "For we have seven thousand men under our command".

But the old king, for all his lack of sight, was not cowered but those confident declarations, and stood adamant, declaring defiantly:

"Why should I fear you two, green boys who think of themselves as great warriors and walk around making threats and offers. My ancestors ruled as Kings before yours became even lords, and I became king before your fathers were even born. I spit at your words and will not die as a simple lord. If fight is what will occur, and if my destiny is to perish by your swords, so be it! But Skyreach will not be a lord's grave, but a King's!"

And they parted their ways, a king to his castle and two lords to their tents.

A siege was planned for the following day, but that did not happen, for when the night had fallen over the lands and a new moon was dark on the sky, a single faint sound was heard across the lands, the blown of a battle horn.

From the mountains on both sides men poured into the pass, on one side a good part of Fowler's forces, 5000 men under the command of his son and heir, Harris, while on the other was na force almost doubling the Reachmen in size, branding the crowned skull over black of House Manwoody, under the command of the Mad King Albin himself, on a armor of bones, having allied himself with Garrison moons before after hearing of Tormund VII visiting the Sandship.

What followed was an absolute slaughter for the forces of the Reach, with less than a tenth of the army surviving the infamous "First Battle of the Wide Way", that to this day is still called the "Butchering by Skyreach". Penrose survived the ordeal, managing to lead the survivors into a desperate retreat, but lost one eye and his companion, as Caron was injured and taken prisoner by Manwoody, who after going back to his seat, roasted him for a feast, his screams filling Kingsgrave.

And as he fled, Penrose wept, and swore revenge on the Mad and the Blind.

The War for Dorne had just started.

* * *

* The water magics of the Rhoynar may be considered one of the main reasons why the giant number of refugees did not completely destroy the fragile resources of Dorne, taking the salt of the sea water to make it drinkable and, on the following decades under Nymeria's rule, managing to develop ways to turn some parts of Dorne, specially on the east, where the fertile strips around the Greenblood became larger to the point of reaching even Sunspear, while in the Broken Arm itself the climate became akin to the one in the Stepstones, rocky and semi-arid, but good enough to produce medium scale farming

** The many settlements that would be born in the following centuries around the mouth and the lower of the River Mander, they are possibly one of the main achievements of the Rhoynar in Westeros all round, for while the Orphans retained their old culture by the way of isolationism and the Rhoynar in Dorne were slowly but surely assimilated into the main Dornish people outside of some areas, the Neo-Rhoynar, started by the settlement of Adyn Rhoyne ("New Home" or "New Mother" on their language), are a new culture and people created by the mixing with the First Men

*** The Order of the Librarians, while being compared many times to the Citadel and its maesters, is in reality, while similar, quintessentially different from the northern order, as while both do have a thrive for accumulation knowledge, the Maesters consider themselves as its keepers and many times prefer to maintain it under lock and key, while the Librarians do not have it, with their archives being open to anyone who wants to see and read from them, other differences is the fact that the Librarians, while isolationist, do not uphold any kind of celibacy, besides having a somewhat more adventurous streak to them, with many going personally into travels to acquire knowledge instead of simply looking records from travelers and merchants and being less scrupulous on the matter of how acquire knowledge

**** The Prince Nymor of Ny Sar, later on the first Steward of Ghaston Grey, he almost went with the great army of Garin the Great to fight against the Valyrians on the Second Spice Wars, but almost the day before he was destined to part from Ny Sar, an unfortunate (or fortunate, depending of the person) incident involving a lion ended with him as an amputee and in the end the prince was forced to stay with his sister in Ny Sar, while a cousin was sent to lead the city's forces on the conflict

***** The Maester Egbert, originally from Dunstonbury, was asked later on why he didn't open the gates of Spottswood before the second night, and his answer, almost comically, was very simple: "The first night I couldn't because of the injured I had to treat. And I am against waking up before the Sun is at its apex, point which would be too hard for me to sneak on the gates", he was clubfooted

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So, what do y'all think? It was a good chapter?


	6. Not a Chapter, I'm sorry

I'm sorry to say this but due to a mix of personal problems and simply becoming a little desinterested with this story, I will be putting "A Stark's South" on Hiatus officially, I don't know when I'm going to post anything so don't hold your breath for it, but know that I plan to at least give a conclusion to it

Cyberbook


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